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Oct. 11 Dusty Baker postgame interview

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Q. Not the way you wanted to end it, but something to hang your hat on is almost every inning you had a chance to come back, the fight this team showed throughout the whole game.

DUSTY BAKER: That's true, we had in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th we had the tying run at the plate and just couldn't get that big hit. They got the big hits in the 6th, all their runs were scored in the 6th inning.

I mean in the 6 run, 4th inning, or the 5th? It was disheartening to have my club go through this.

Q. What do you say to your team with a disheartening loss like this, after 97 wins?

DUSTY BAKER: You say to them, I'm proud of them and proud they fought to the end, which they did.

That at bat that Jay Bruce had was unbelievable. That was sheer determination. You've got to work a little harder this winter and this is going to take a while for this to heal, but like everything heals, sometimes you just get tired of disappointments.

Q. Can you explain the reasoning behind the attempted steel in the 6th inning?

DUSTY BAKER: It was 3 2, and it looked like the pitch was outside. That changed the whole ballgame, but it was 3 2 with a base runner one that rarely strikes out and if the base runner hits the ball on the ground it's an automatic double play.

If he hits it on the ground and you don't run, it's a double play and if you do run and he misses it, it's still a double play. So we were trying to be aggressive at that time and stay out of the double play.

Q. Did it seem like Latos lost his focus there? Was it a ball strike call that got that inning going?

DUSTY BAKER: Well, you know, what kinda got the inning going was I don't know if it was a ball or strike call and he lost on Marco Scutaro, that at bat there. Then after that they started finding holes.

I mean that was a big hit that the third baseman got barely inside the bag and I mean barely inside the shortstop, then he had 2 strikes big time on a dangerous hitter who he had gotten out in Buster Posey. Plus Buster's hit into 19 double plays and we were hoping to get another double play at that time, but the pitch wasn't where he wanted it to be and it wasn't a double play pitch.

Q. Probably not at the forefront of your mind right now, but with the way things have unfolded with your health and this series where do you see your future in Cincinnati and as a manager in general?

DUSTY BAKER: Well, I mean, I've come to find out in and quite a few people have this afib, and I never heard of it before, I'm getting it from all kinds of people, letters, and people telling me life goes on.

I'm not sure where my career is going here in Cincinnati. We're going to talk about that in the next couple of days, but I'm not through managing yet. I have more to do.

Q. You mentioned being tired of the disappointments. What did you mean by that?

DUSTY BAKER: You get tired of it.

Q. Other postseasons in the past?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, you get tired of the disappointments, but then you get over it. It hurts, big time. I'm a strong man, and usually I get over hurts and it makes me stronger when I come back.

Q. Was there any consideration about pulling Latos before the Posey at bat?

DUSTY BAKER: No, he was dealing. Yeah, there was consideration. We discussed it and he just made a couple of bad pitches and he still had plenty left in the tank. He still had 2 strikes on Posey. I'm not sure what the count was, exactly, was it 2 2, or one 2? But I know he had 2 strikes on Posey, and he just happened to throw one right down the middle.

Q. Do you expect to be back here?

DUSTY BAKER: I don't know, man, right now I'm kinda numb in this situation.